A Good Day for Roguelikes: 100 Rogues, Legends of Yore and more

It appears to be a big day for iOS roguelikes. Here’s a rundown of new releases in the genre.

Following a brief absence, 100 Rogues [$0.99] returns to the app store at version 2.8 with impressive new content. Two new “monster classes” are available, the Tourist and the Rogue-Bot.

Tales of adventure have brought many Tourists to the dungeons. These weak, naive souls rely on wits and pity to avoid combat, though years of bar brawls have honed their ability to throw just about anything and make it hurt. The Tourists abilities include asking for monsters for directions, arguing prices at the shop, blinding enemies with their cameras, and disguising themselves in an effort to blend in. When all else fails, the Tourist excels at running away! The Tourist class is available as free DLC.

The Bandit Hole Robot-Fighting Championships have announced a new Rogue-Bot Fighting League! The dungeons now swarm with this new breed of machine as they research unstoppable new fighting techniques and bigger explosions. The Rogue-Bot is built for combat, and will pistol-whip anyone or anything standing in its way. The Rogue-Bot is also capable of launching explosive rockets, creating walking bombs, tossing grenades, immobilizing enemies with nets, rolling into a defensive ball, and lubing its mechanical joints with the blood of his enemies. The Rogue-Bot is available as paid DLC for $0.99.

The 2.8 update also includes two new DLC game modes, Combo and Endless. In Combo Mode your character begins much sturdier, but skills and items are purchased with game points. You earn points by killing monsters, and even MORE points by killing monsters quickly to rack up a combo multiplier. In Endless Mode the third level of Hell wraps back around to the Bandit Hole, and play begins with a harder difficulty setting. The first loop is roughly equivalent to Normal Mode, the second loop slightly easier than Rogue Mode, the third loop is way harder than Rogue Mode, and the fourth loop … well, no one really expects you to survive to the fourth loop … Neither Combo nor Endless modes include boss fights, with the first level of each world leading into the first level of the next. Both modes are available as paid DLC for $0.99 each.

100 Rogues is one of my very favorite iOS games, and with so much new content is now more awesome than ever!

Legends of Yore [FREE] is a new roguelike, featuring three character classes and endless adventure. While I do think there’s a bit too much lag between turns, I love the big-pixel graphics and old-school feel of the game, and I am most definitely looking forward to spending more time with this one.

Initially made for the “Seven Day Roguelike Challenge” — I love the Seven Day Roguelike Challenge! — Pitman [$1.99] casts you as Krumb, a dwarven pitman on a quest for mighty artifacts in a 3D dungeon. The game plays out in a peculiar, board-game fashion with an unusual set of camera controls; it definitely takes some getting used to, but the game is also thoroughly intriguing and offers a unique approach to the standard roguelike formula. Also, the soundtrack is wonderfully quirky.

Of all the dungeon-crawling adventure to be had today, Saga Dungeon [FREE] is the one I am least digging. The sprawling, procedurally generated 3D dungeons are nice in theory, but are incredibly bland in design and quickly begin to resemble frustrating mazes more than compelling adventuring halls. The turn-based combat runs almost entirely on auto-pilot, and I have seen very little variety in enemy types. And the game’s in-app purchasing is a little weird; you can visit the merchant at anytime to buy items using real-world money, but can only spend in-game gold between dungeon levels. The character models are decent, if not very detailed, but there’s not a lot of personality or fun to be found in Saga Dungeon. For a three-dimension game, Saga Dungeon comes off feeling flat. Still, it’s free to play and genre fans may want to give it a go.